Bagpiping & A Fourth of July Parade

Through the years I have written about one of my hobbies—bagpiping. In Second Sight I included this poem:

The Pipers’ Duties "To help with weeping, compliment the brave, inspire the feet to dancing, paint the landscape with sound, fill the lonely heart, rekindle courage, greet or bid farewell, recall the past, commemorate the deeds of heroes, bring joy to crowded places."

Observations on a Fourth of July Parade: What is a parade without music? I have lived in Peachtree City, Georgia, for 16 years. It is a planned community some 25 miles south of the Atlanta airport. The home of many, many veterans as well as men and women on active duty, it has to be one of the most patriotic of towns in this ever-so patriotic state.

For many years on the morning of the parade, I have donned my kilt, taken up my pipes, and gone over to where the parade forms up. There always I find the firemen with their trucks, the police color-guard, Revolutionary War-era soldiers and ladies, World War Two re-enactors, and Veterans of Foreign Wars forming up at the front of the parade. And among them there is not one, single musical instrument.

For years I have gone there and found a place that needs some music. I am always welcome, and usually that place is right up front behind the color guard. With a volley of shots fired into the air from their flintlock rifles, the whole parade steps off at 9 a.m. sharp. I strike up and start playing.

Having taken up the pipes at 40, I’m not a great piper by any measure, but I think I get a good tone out of my pipes and have a firm enough repertoire to entertain myself and the thousands of people who line the route. In addition to Scotland the Brave and Garry Owens, I play The Marine Corps Hymn, the Army Song, and that all-time favorite, It’s a Grand Old Flag.

A thought I have been having is this: I derive more pleasure from being in that parade than do the thousands who are watching. I am blessed by seeing our music bring smiles to the faces of thousands of parade-watchers, young and old. They are proud, and they are grateful for the sounds of the pipes being played as in the days of yore!

So that begs the question, fellow pipers: Are we not fortunate among men? Therefore I urge you—get out there and find a place that needs music and fill it up!